Dennis Nahat out at Ballet San Jose

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John C. Fry is seen in this 2009 file photo. Fry is the former board chairman for the San Jose Ballet.

John C. Fry is seen in this 2009 file photo. Fry is the former board chairman for the San Jose Ballet.

Photo: Claudine Gossett For Drew Altize

Photo: Claudine Gossett For Drew Altize

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John C. Fry is seen in this 2009 file photo. Fry is the former board chairman for the San Jose Ballet.

John C. Fry is seen in this 2009 file photo. Fry is the former board chairman for the San Jose Ballet.

Photo: Claudine Gossett For Drew Altize

Dennis Nahat out at Ballet San Jose

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Changes are afoot at Ballet San Jose, but a graceful transition still eludes the embattled company, which has delayed its spring season announcement, shortened its "Nutcracker" run and announced a new partnership with American Ballet Theatre, new artistic leadership and the departure of Ballet San Jose's board chair. Now, founder Dennis Nahat, whose future with the company had been in question, confirmed this week that he has received a letter from Executive Director Stephanie Ziesel removing him as artistic director.

"I am flabbergasted at how this has happened," Nahat said during a phone call Wednesday evening. "I don't understand the rationale behind it, and I guess one cannot rationalize it at this point."

Nahat, who co-founded the Cleveland Ballet 40 years ago, piloted his dancers through a cooperative venture as San Jose Cleveland Ballet and oversaw its transition to Ballet San Jose, says that his immediate plans are to concentrate on his commitment as adjudicator of the Silicon Valley International Art Competition in Cupertino. He will also enter discussions with Ballet San Jose over granting permission for the company to continue performing the more than 80 ballets he choreographed for the company, to which he still owns the rights.

This turn of events caps what some board members have characterized as a "hostile takeover" that was years in the making. In interviews with former board members and staff, a picture has emerged of an organization whose control was consolidated into the hands of John Fry, a wealthy patron. Karen Loewenstern, who helped found the dual-city San Jose Cleveland Ballet in 1985 and was the first board chair, says that during the dot-com bust, faced with an alarming deficit, the company found a benefactor in Fry, CEO of Fry's Electronics, whose wife, Ramune Ambrozaitis, was on the board.

In 2003, he made a $1.767 million loan to the company - secured by company assets, including sets and costumes - and offered sizable donations that, in Loewenstern's words, "kept the doors open." Unconfirmed estimates of his giving to Ballet San Jose range from $14 million to more than $20 million since he took over.

On Jan. 5, Fry resigned from the board. Lorraine Gilmore of Edison Pharmaceuticals will succeed him as chair. Loewenstern says that Fry's resignation does not mean that he or Fry's Electronics will exert any less influence on the company, pointing out that Fry's Vice President Kathy Kolder remains on the board and that Fry reportedly intends to continue his financial support of the company.

"Nothing is going to be decided without running it by him," she says matter-of-factly. "I would say that he bought himself a ballet company."

Fry declined through a press representative to be interviewed for this article.

Fry's role on board

In 2004, when Fry took over as chairman, he oversaw a reorganization that split the board into two entities, an elite governing board and a larger community-driven operating board. Over the next several years, Loewenstern says, responsibilities of the operating board were gradually diminished until it folded. She claims Fry stymied attempts by herself, other board members and Nahat to recruit new blood to the governing board by withholding approval for prospective members. The volunteer council was disbanded and the annual fundraising galas ceased.

In May 2009, Fry recruited Ziesel, ostensibly to bolster fundraising efforts, and told Nahat, who had been an ex officio member of the board as artistic director, that he was no longer to attend board meetings. Executive responsibilities, including jurisdiction over repertoire, casting, hiring and firing of dancers and staff and union negotiations, were transferred to Ziesel.

In 2011, former staff members describe marked changes in company policies and management. Contract negotiations with the dancers union in early 2011 stalled, and later that year, they say, Fry's employees changed the locks to the warehouse where the company's sets and costumes were stored, preventing staff members from accessing them. Staffers say decisions and purchases in their departments became subject to approval by Fry, creating confusion and delaying important transactions.

Amid the turmoil, Ziesel says, conversations with her sister Mary Jo Ziesel, the director of education and training at American Ballet Theatre, led to the idea of incorporating ABT's national training curriculum into the Ballet San Jose school and grew to encompass an artistic arrangement as well, in which Ballet San Jose would gain access to ABT's repertoire and coaching staff for upcoming productions.

In late December, Fry contacted Nahat for a meeting, also attended by Karen and Walter Loewenstern, at Nahat's home, in which Fry laid out the details of the new partnership. Both Nahat and Loewenstern say Fry confirmed his intention to continue Nahat's salary through June 2012 and said the scores of ballets he created would remain in the company's active repertoire, but under a new arrangement there would be no artistic director. Instead, regisseur Raymond Rodriguez would become principal ballet master, charged with rehearsing the ballets, with Wes Chapman as artistic consultant.

'In shock'

"Dennis was absolutely in shock. It was absolutely painful to watch," says Loewenstern. "He had just been shoved out of his life's work - out of everything he built and ever cared about.

That deal has apparently enabled the ambitious three-program season announced Monday, which includes six works new to Ballet San Jose, as well as David Lichine's "Graduation Ballet" and another work to be announced. Among the premieres for the company are Jerome Robbins' "Interplay," George Balanchine's "Allegro Brillante," Jessica Lang's "Splendid Isolation III," Clark Tippet's "Bruch Violin Concerto" and Ben Stevenson's full-length "Cinderella." None of Nahat's ballets are listed for the season.

"I wish them luck," Nahat said. "I really do. I hope that the company doesn't suffer and I hope that no one is hurt by this. If Ballet Theatre will propel this company into the 21st century, I'm all for it, but there will be a cost. This will not come cheaply."